Liberia: How conservation can lift a nation from disaster to development

8/14/2009

Hillary Clinton’s support for the progress made by Liberia in recent years is
well placed. The country has proved that African development does not have to be
undertaken at the expense of the environment, and that African nations have the
potential to be key players in the battle against climate change. The US
Government, thought USAID, has already played a major role in this.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government has had the foresight to create
opportunities for the protection of the country’s forests – as a tool to tackle
climate change – to contribute to the country’s battle against poverty. The
people of Liberia and the people of the world stand to benefit from this, and
Conservation International is proud to have worked with the President and her
team to devise strategies to help the Liberian people through conservation of
the nation’s important ecosystems.

This opportunity to protect the country’s forests should mean that Liberia
will be better able to provide fresh, clean water to its population, will have a
more robust agricultural sector, will be able to create a profitable tourism
industry and will be able to generate revenue from the carbon markets. This
depends on the Government of the US and other nations supporting the country to
build the good governance required, but the investment has the potential to
pay-off substantially.

Indeed, Liberia’s effort to generate revenue for its people from the
burgeoning carbon market has the potential to change the face of Africa forever.
If the US Government, the EU and other major economies ensure that a strong
commitment is made to protecting the world’s standing forests at the forthcoming
Copenhagen climate conference – meaning that forested nations are equitably
rewarded for preventing deforestation and replanting lost forest – then Liberia
has the potential to become a template for the rest of the continent, and to
help the rest of the planet to overcome the greatest environmental threat in
recent times.

Liberia has turned the page on a bitter recent history of war and brutality –
an achievement that deserves praise and support from the international community
– and Conservation International would encourage the US government and other
nations and institutions of the world to support the country’s efforts to
rebuild itself in an environmentally sustainable way with both financial and
political commitments.